


Meeting Under The Wisteria

by NightOwl1



Series: Of Go & Love [2]
Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: M/M, Resurrection, Shinto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-05
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-13 03:24:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4505877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightOwl1/pseuds/NightOwl1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four years after Sai disappeared, Sai tries to leave heaven, and return to Earth when he sees how lonely and miserable Hikaru still is without him. For his transgression he will have to spend the rest of eternity in hell unless Hikaru can save him. A fateful reunion under the wisteria... Hikaru/Sai</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Divine Move

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a Hikaru/Sai fic, though there will be some one-sided Akari/Hikaru. Its a canon pairing so there's no helping it. In the series its stated that Akari has feelings for Hikaru, and in the beginning he may have felt something, but Go took over his heart and he pushed her out of his life. In this fic whatever these two had left will be severed. There will also be hints of Akira/Hikaru, but played for laughs, and purely friendship with nothing romantic. I personally think these two don't have much chemistry for a romantic relationship.
> 
> Wisteria: (Fuji in Japanese, yes as in Fujiwara or wisteria field) has many different meanings like love, tenderness, sensitivity, endurance, longevity. All meaning which can be applied to Sai, but Wisteria also can mean clinging love. Which can especially be applied to Sai in the way he clung to his ghostly life to play Go, and when came close to disappearing he wanted to cling to Hikaru.
> 
> Fuji Musume: Wisteria Maiden. This is a popular act in Kubuki theater. Its about a spirit of a wisteria tree that experience the joy, jealousy, and heartbreak of falling in love with a man.
> 
> Tenjin: The Japanese god of scholarship and wisdom. In life he was known as Sugawara no Michizane, he was a Heian era scholar that was exiled due to the political mechanisms of the Fujiwara clan in the ninth century. After floods, and lightening strikes on the capitial, killing many Fujiwara, the emperor had him deified to appease his angry spirit.
> 
> Kannushi: A Shinto priest, these men are caretakers for shrines, and perform marriages, groundbreaking ceremonies, ect. They are the only ones these days that wear the kariginu (outer robe) and tate-eboshi (tall hat) that Sai wears. Though in Sai's time it was the garb worn by noblemen and government officials.

Fujiwara no Sai won another game against his old friend Torajiro. Here in heaven he saw many friends, and a few family members that were not so power hungry that had passed before, and after him. He got to play more games with them, many more. Torajiro flashed him a smile, “You won, again, Sai! I'll have to play you later, it looks like Tenjin-sama wants a game.”

Sai smiled back, and waved good-bye as Torajiro took off, most likely to be with his family. Sai had missed Torajiro, though there was someone here that Sai missed even more, and he was on earth still. Sai sighed sadly at the thought of Hikaru, though at the same time he was proud to have been able to pass on his legacy. He wished to be able to be with Hikaru, or at least speak with him, but at least he was able to see Hikaru in a dream and pass on his torch. It was all the gods were willing to give him, and that would have to be enough.

An old man dressed much in the same manner as Sai sat down on the other side of the goban. He was Tenjin, the god of scholarship and wisdom, though in life Sai had called him Sugawara-sensei. Sai remembers his very first game of Go, and it was with this man. There was a great kinship between them, both of them had been exiled from there home because of the politics of power hungry Fujiwara. Sai, though he was a Fujiwara, he was the child of mistress of low birth, and was down upon by his own clan. The love of Go is what linked these two together. Sai bowed to his teacher. “Sugawara-sensei. I am happy to see you. It has been so long. Care for a game?”

Tenjin nodded, and smiled as they chose for color. “Indeed it has been awhile, Sai. How long has it been since I taught this game to that lonely child I found slacking off in his kannushi training?”

Sai blushed, as he placed his stone on komoku. He remembered his encounter with an old man he thought was just another priest in the shrine. Little did Sai know that the man who simply called himself Sugawara, was the god the shrine housed. “I wasn't slacking off, I was hiding from my sisters. They were very scary. They were trying to stick toads down my hakama again.” Sai smiled nostalgically. “You invited me to play a game of Go. From that first game it was like the entire universe was open to me, an entire cosmos at my fingertips.”

Sai sighed, as they played back and forth. He was countering his teacher's attacks, barely dodging. “I lost that game, and every game we played, but I gained those first steps to the Divine Move. I never obtained it. I wish I did, but at least I got to pass on that dream.”

Tenjin chuckled. “Do you remember what the Divine Move is?”

Sai blinked at Tenjin, and put the tip of his fan on his lips in deep thought. “Yes. It is a move so unexpected, and so perfect that only god himself could have played it.”

Tenjin played his stone in an unexpected place, Sai's eyes widen as he saw the trap for what it was. Sai went around it, and laid a trap that Sai had seen Hikaru make. It for all appearance appeared to be a bad move. Tenjin went for it. Back forth they traded moves, and only until it was too late did Tenjin see Sai's trap. Tenjin's eyes widened, and bowed his head. “I resign.”

Tenjin looked up at his student, and smiled. “You say you never played the Divine Move? I must disagree. You had already played a move so unexpected, and perfect.”

Sai stared in disbelief. He had beaten his teacher. Did he truly obtain the Divine Move? “Sugawara-sensei? When did I obtain the Divine Move?”

Tenjin chuckled. “You started to play it when you appeared to a boy who had no interest in Go whatsoever, and the Divine Move became apparent when you touched the Go of so many through that boy. The Divine Move is so subtle at first that few see it until it has been completed.”

Sai gasped. Hikaru was his Divine Move. Sai had changed the world of Go. He turned a boy with zero interest or talent in Go into a professional in little more than two years. Sai's invisible hand played Go through Hikaru, and all the opponents he had played through Hikaru had changed the world of Go. What was more unexpected than the ghost of an ancient Go master possessing a boy who never played Go, and putting him on the long path to the Divine Move? Hikaru would surpass his teacher, as Sai had surpassed his.

Tenjin nodded. “Yes, it was a move worthy of a god. I think you have earned your place as the god of Go.”

Sai looked up at his teacher. “What? Me?”

Tenjin stroked his beard in thought. “Yes. I think the position has been empty for awhile. I don't think there were any gods of Go before. I think you'll do a good job. Though I warn you there are some taboos, like doing another god's job being up at the top.” Tenjin grinned. “Other than that you can visit mortals in dreams, at least until you get a shrine and create a divine bond with a mortal. All in order to do your job of course.”

A wide smile bloomed on Sai's face. “Can I see Hikaru?”

Tenjin nodded. “Yes. I think tomorrow is his eighteenth birthday. He has grown quite a bit.” Tenjin then gave Sai a warning glare. “I warn you not to change his red thread of fate. That is the god of love's job.”

Sai cocked his head. “Why would I try to do that?”

Tenjin narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Because gods attached to mortals by a red thread of fate would be able to live in the mortal world. It is how many kannushi and miko gain spiritual powers is by marrying, for lack of a better word, to a god.”

Sai tapped his lips with his fan, deep in thought. Hikaru would be eighteen, a man by this modern age's standards instead of the traditional twenty. Sai would be able to see Hikaru first, let the young man make that decision. Sai shook his head, Hikaru was bound to say no, but Sai would ask anyway. Sai got up and left to see Hikaru. He would be able to say what he had wanted to Hikaru. He wondered how long it has passed since he last saw Hikaru. Sai approached the great gate to the mortal world, and passed through it, eager to see Hikaru again.

When Sai left, Tenjin sighed. The scent of wisteria surrounded him. In the distance he caught the glimpse of a woman carrying a branch of wisteria. Tenjin shook his head. “Sai took the bait, lady Fujiko. No doubt he is going to try to change that red thread. Are you really going to test him like this? I've always known the boy to be more interested in Go, not romance. I see him only as a god of Go, not love.”

The woman regarded Tenjin with some anger. “You have so little faith in him. Sai can be both.”

Tenjin sighed. “This won't be a test just for him. Love is similar to Go in that you need two people to play. This Hikaru will be tested as well.” Tenjin eyed the woman gravely. "Just remember the rules: Don't help them unless they ask you for it."

The woman said nothing, her silence was disconcerting to Tenjin, and then she disappeared. Tenjin stood. He had his own shrines, and devotees to attend to. He wished his student the best, and hoped that Hikaru would not let Sai down. He wondered if Sai would pass his final test in becoming a god of both Go and love. It would not be easy for either one of them.

 

 

oOo

 

 

Shindo Hikaru was dreaming. He was sitting in the grass beside a river, underneath an ancient wisteria tree. Its long blossoms swayed like a purple curtain in a wind he could not feel. Patches of sunlight filtered through creating a blurry dream-like mirage of vivid violets, pinks, and bright green colors. While the world around him had a vague dreamlike quality, the goban in front of him was vivid and clear. Hikaru sat in front of the goban, waiting for his opponent. He heard someone approach in the distance, then a familiar voice called to him in the distance. “Can you hear... Can you hear my voice? Hikaru?”

Hikaru froze at the sound of Sai's voice. It made his heart ache and leap with joy at the same time. The curtain of wisteria blossoms parted, and a familiar figure stepped through. Hikaru's eyes misted at the sight of his best friend and teacher. “Sai!”

Hikaru leapt to his feet, and ran into Sai's arms. He sobbed into the other man's embrace. “Sai! I missed you! I have so much to tell you!”

Sai smiled at Hikaru. “I missed you too, Hikaru. My, how you've grown! Oh, and happy birthday to you!”

Hikaru laughed a little, it was a little deeper than what Sai remembered, today was his eighteenth birthday. Hikaru had grown in the time that he was gone. Sai remembered how Hikaru could barely reach his chest, now he almost stood eye to eye with Sai, though he was still shorter than Sai. Hikaru's shoulders were broader, his voice had dropped an octave, and his face had lost much of its baby fat. Sai was right to think that Hikaru would someday grow into a fine man. Sai's smile grew. “Would you like to play a game with me?”

Hikaru sniffed back tears, and happily nodded. “Yes, I would like that very much!”

They took their seats on either side of the goban, used nigiri to choose for color, Hikaru had one black stone, and Sai had five white stones. Hikaru would be playing black. Sai asked Hikaru. “How have you been?”

Hikaru opened up on Komoku. “I've been doing really well. I beat Ko Yeong-ha last year at the third Hokuto Cup. He's this bastard that insulted you at the first Hokuto Cup, and to my shame I failed to defend your honor that time. It was my most bitter defeat, and on the first anniversary of your disappearance too, but its okay now since I was able to beat him. As it turns out there was a mistranslation, and had later he said those things to rile me up, he's actually a Shuusaku fan. He respects you, Sai, though I still hate his guts. Oh, and I'm also catching up to Akira now. I'm even winning a few of our matches. I haven't won against him in a professional match though...”

Hikaru grinned. “But, I'm finally a seven-dan now. It took me awhile with my two months of forfeits, but I did it. I passed the Honinbo preliminaries! I'll be joining the Honinbo league next week, which means I get promoted to a seven-dan after nearly four years of being a sho-dan. Eventually I can challenge Kuwabara for the title! Can you imagine, Shindo Honinbo?”

Sai placed a white stone on the goban, breaking up Hikaru's shape in the lower corner. Sai smiled at Hikaru. “That's wonderful! I'm glad to hear that. How have all your friends been doing? Made any new friends?” Sai hid his sly smile behind his fan. “Any girlfriends?”

Hikaru blushed, and fumbled a little when he attached a black stone. He was on the defensive, Sai was as swift and brutal as ever. He saw an opening in the upper corner, and he wondered if Sai would fall for it. “Girlfriends? Well... I went on a few dates with Akari after she confessed to me. She's nice, and I've been helping her out with her Go. She's not a great player, nor is she as passionate about Go, but she's nice, I guess.”

Hikaru looked away, unable to look Sai in the eye. He and Akari were having relationship problems. He was often late for their dates because of matches, and tournaments, and she confessed to him last week that she was starting to hate Go. A white stone was placed with a loud clack. Sai didn't see the trap Hikaru laid out. Hikaru looked up in shock. Sai was smiling, but there was something storming behind his eyes. “It sounds like you are doing so well. I'm proud.” Sai's smile fell. “You have been doing much better without me.”

Hikaru frowned, and the black stone he played echoed loudly with a great resounding clack. The trap closed Sai in, Hikaru would claim the entire lower left side of the goban, killing the white there. “Is that why you left me?”

Sai looked up to see Hikaru near tears, and he felt his heart clench in pain at the sight. He hesitated a little before playing his white stone. Sai saw the trap too late, a set back to be sure. Hikaru had greatly improved, and had become a fierce opponent, but Hikaru let the entire right side open to him. Sai let go of his lower left corner, and attacked the right side relentlessly. “I'm sorry, Hikaru. If I had stayed with you, you never would have grown up. As much I hated it, my destiny was to be a mere stepping stone on your path to adulthood, and obtaining the Divine Move. I was destined to play that game with Touya Kouyo, so that you would see a move that neither one of saw. I had so much fun with you, and watching you grow. I didn't want to leave, but I had no choice. I am sorry for the grief, and the pain I have inflicted on you.”

Hikaru felt anger bubble up in his stomach. “A stepping stone?! That's all you think you are?! You mean more than that to me! You're my best friend, my mentor, my...” Hikaru trailed off, not knowing how to finish that sentence. Tears spilled from his eyes, and fell onto the goban. “Why can't you come back?”

Sai looked at Hikaru sadly. “I cannot come back. My duty on Earth is complete, and I passed on my legacy. My role as your mentor is done. If I came back what would be there for me?”

Hikaru slammed his fists on the goban, and some go stones flew off the goban. “You would have me!”

Hikaru's anger disappeared as saw that Sai was crying. “I was so bitter, and angry at you. You had a bright future that I did not have. You were always the one destined to obtain the Divine Move, not me. How was I to know that teaching you Go was my Divine Move all along? You, a loudmouthed brat with no interest in Go. Truly an unexpected move so perfect that only a god could have played it!”

Sai sniffed, and a smile appeared on his face, even as his tears continued to fall. “Even now that I am in heaven, I still have so many regrets that keep me from peace. What I regret most of all was not having more time with you. I want to stay by your side forever, Hikaru. How can I stay in heaven when the peace and happiness I seek is with you?”

Hikaru hiccuped, and his eyes filled with hope. “Are you going to stay?”

Sai's expression turned serious. “I can, but you would have to pay a terrible price. There is the reason why I have visited you now in your dream after all these years. You are now old enough to be offered this choice.”

Hikaru looked at Sai with a raised brow. “Is it because I can get a driver's license now?”

Sai giggled, and shook his head. “No, this has nothing to do with those odd horse-less carriages. Hold out your left pinky.”

Hikaru felt some hesitation, wondering if he would chop it off or something, but then Hikaru noticed something. It was a small barely visible red string tied around his pinky. “Wait. Is that the red string of fate? I thought that was mushy garbage companies use to sell their crap on Valentine's Day.”

Sai giggled behind his fan. “No, it is quite real. Sometimes two souls are linked together by this red string. Those two souls are fated to be lovers. This red string of yours is linked to Akari-chan, and it looks like it is fraying. Your heart and Akari's are not connecting are they?” Sai looked at Hikaru, searching for something in the younger man's eyes.

Hikaru's eyes widened. “Akari is my soulmate?! But I don't love her!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Hikaru realized why he held more passion for Go then he did for Akari. It hit him with the same quickness, and intensity as thunder. It wasn't just the game itself that Hikaru loved with all his heart, but the man who taught it to him. Hikaru played Go again after his two months absence to connect with a ghost from the past. Hikaru loved Sai. He never questioned, until now, just how deep that love went, he only knew that he loved Sai. Hikaru never loved anyone as he does Sai, not his parents nor even Akari. The saddest part was how much Akari loved him, and he had little left to give her. “I did love Akari, once. Long ago before I met you, before we shared a mind, heart, and soul. She loves me, but I don't love her. How can I when my heart is chasing a ghost?”

Sai nodded. “It seems that my fate to teach you Go interfered with this fate. Now it is frayed and about to break. The price you must pay to have me stay is to let her go, and tie that string to me. She will choose another, and you will be tied with me forever. My role as your mentor may be done, but by taking the role as your lover I can sneak back. Once you do this there is no going... Hikaru?”

Sai looked down and saw Hikaru yanking on the red string on his finger and chewing on it. He was gnawing at it like a starving dog with a turkey leg, he growled out. “Damn thing... break already!”

Sai glared at him and flailed his arms comically. “Be serious, Hikaru! This is a grave matter!”

Hikaru looked back up at Sai with bright green eyes that burned with determination. “I am serious! The sooner I sever ties with Akari, the happier we all will be! I don't love Akari, the one I love is you!”

Sai gasped in utter amazement at the level of devotion Hikaru had for him. “You would choose to be with an older man who has been dead for a thousand years over a living girl your age?”

Hikaru nodded with no hesitation. “Yes, I would. I don't care if I don't ever get married, and have kids like society is telling me to. I'm happier being with you, even if other people think I'm a head case that yells at thin air.”

Sai wept with joy, and embraced Hikaru. “Never in my life nor in death had anyone loved me this much! You would truly let me cling to you like the wisteria clings to the strong pine?”

Hikaru hugged Sai back, and nodded. “Yeah!”

Sai knew what he was about to do would have him expelled from his lofty place in heaven, but Sai didn't care. He wanted to be selfish and be with Hikaru. Sai let go of Hikaru, to inspect the red string tied the young man to Akari. Sai held the red string in his hand, it was as a single thread of silk. It was stretched to its limits, now more than ever is this fate vulnerable. Sai knew in his heart that only a god of love could be able to change the strings of fate that binds lovers together, but he would try anyway. “Since you are sure, Hikaru, then I will cut your fate, and bind myself to you.”

Sai took a step back, and summoned to his hand a katana. Sai ran the sword against the red thread, which gave a surprising amount of resistance. Then Sai felt something catch on the blade, a weak spot a good three feet from Hikaru's pinky. Sai looked into Hikaru's eyes, and their gazes locked together. Hikaru nodded, and Sai took a deep breath. Sai then cut the thread, and it snapped like a rubber band.

The end of the red thread still attached to Hikaru's hand now looked like a red snake coiled around his pinky. It swayed looked for another hand to attach to. Sai sat down in front of Hikaru and grasped Hikaru's pinky finger with his own. The red thread coiled around their pinkies, and linked the two men together. It was much thicker than before, resembling a ribbon more than a silk thread.

Hikaru and Sai looked up at each other and their gazes locked. They felt their hearts race. They leaned in closer to one another until the tips of their noses touched. Hikaru cupped Sai's face, and closed the distance. Their lips had barely touched when the dream was shattering around them, and Sai was dragged away from Hikaru by some unknown force. Sai was being dragged toward the river, and the world was growing dark. Hikaru held onto Sai with all his strength. Sai looked at Hikaru desperately, “Hikaru, don't let them take me to hell! Please!”

Hikaru's strength gave out, and watched helplessly as Sai was dragged away into the river. The world caved in around him, and Hikaru felt like he was falling into an abyss. He flailed uselessly trying to reach towards Sai. Hikaru screamed into the darkness Sai's name.

 

oOo

 


	2. Kiri

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kiri (Cut): A move in Go that separates your opponents stones. 
> 
> This chapter is shorter than the last, to be honest its more of an interlude.

Shindo Hikaru woke with a start on the floor of his bedroom on in a tangled mess of sheets, papers, and go stones. Morning sunlight that filtered through his window made him recoil when he opened his eyes. He reeled from the dream, or rather the nightmare, that he had. He looked at his pinky, half hoping to see a red string tied around it, and was disappointed when he found none. He rubbed his eyes, groggily. “Ugh... What a dream... I wonder if it was real?”

Hikaru's reflex was to brush it off, and yet the heavy pressure in his heart told him not to. Hikaru clutched at his chest trying to get his heart to stop pounding. He had gone through this before when Sai disappeared. He couldn't handle more false hope. 'Even if it was real, what can I do to help Sai?' Hikaru touched his lips, which still tingled from the dream where he kissed Sai. He blushed furiously. “Did I dream about kissing Sai?!”

Hikaru heard his mom knock on his bedroom door. “Hikaru? Are you awake? I heard you screaming...”

Hikaru yelled back through the door. “Yeah, mom I am! It was just a dream!”

The door opened up and Hikaru's mother, Shindo Mitsuko, walked in. “Happy Birthday, Hikaru!” She then clicked disapprovingly at the mess in his room. “What happened here? Shouldn't most of this be packed away?”

Hikaru stood up and stretched his legs. “I must of fallen off the bed in the middle of the night. At any rate, I'm only going to start packing once I graduate in March, and find a place. Everything I'm finding is either too expensive, or in a lousy neighborhood.”

Hikaru was eighteen now, and was about six months away from graduating high school. He only went because his parents had put their foot down. He was now glad he did it, because he got to find Sai in new ways. He took history classes that focused on the Heian period that Sai had lived in, though he still could not find a single Fujiwara no Sai in any records. Hikaru won the argument about college, and was now going to focus on his Go career, after he moved out. Most of his Go-pro friends had moved out, and were living on their own. He delayed it for the simple reason that he was just lazy.

Mitsuko brought him out of his reverie. “I didn't mention moving away, I only meant that you should clean your room a little better. You don't have to move out right away, you can even stay for as long as you want... Oh! I almost forgot, Akari-chan called not too long ago. She wanted to talk to you, I think she said that you two were going to the amusement park.”

Hikaru slapped his palm against his forehead. “I totally forgot about that! The guys are taking me out today to celebrate my birthday.”

Mitsuko clicked her tongue. “I hope you call Akari-chan, and straighten things out. She's a really nice girl. I'll go make you some breakfast.”

Mitsuko closed the door behind her, and left Hikaru to think. He could help, but think of the dream he had of Sai. Hikaru clutched at his chest. The very thought of Sai made his heart clench painfully. Hikaru knew now what he should have years ago. He loved Sai in a way that he loved no one else, nor would he ever again. Hikaru pitied Akari, and felt guilty for giving her false hope that he would fully return her feelings. She had done nothing to deserve being in a one-sided relationship, much less have her competition be the thousand year old ghost of a man. Hikaru sighed. He had to do the right thing and break things off with her. He had to stop being selfish.

Hikaru got dressed, and went downstairs. The phone had never seemed so heavy before. He knew enough not to do this over the phone. He would at least be a man, and crush her heart face-to-face. He sighed. “This is going to be a long day. I better get this over with.” 

 

* * *

 

Hikaru stood dumbfounded in front of Akari's house. He went over to her house to meet her, and before he could even say hello to her, she had blurted out words he didn't think he would hear from her. Akari had her arms crossed, and she wouldn't look Hikaru in the eye. Hikaru asked her, “Akari, could you repeat that? I'm not sure I heard you correctly.”

Akari sighed. “I said, I'm breaking up with you. I had thought about this for awhile, Hikaru. We've been together since we were toddlers, but ever since you started playing Go you've drifted apart from me. There's this big gap between us, and I thought that by playing Go I would reconnect with you, but its not just Go. I can see it in your eyes that there is someone else. I can see that you are chasing someone, and you've left me behind a long time ago. I'm tired of trying to keep up with you.”

Hikaru's looked away from her. “I'm sorry Akari, you're right. There is someone else.”

Akari dug her fingers in her arms, and glared at Hikaru with eyes brimming with tears. “Who is she? Who's the girl that stole you away from me?”

Hikaru thought of Sai. The image of his best friend, his Go teacher, and his first love made him smile wistfully. “Not a girl, a man. His name is Fujiwara no Sai, and I love him with all my heart.”

Akari stared in utter shock at Hikaru. Hearing Hikaru's confession of love for another man, and see how ernest Hikaru looked was the last thing she had expected. When she recovered from her shock, she soundly slapped Hikaru across the face. “Good-bye Hikaru. I wish you luck with your... boyfriend. Even in this day and age, you'll need it. And happy birthday.”

Hikaru touched his stinging cheek. It was as painful, and as freeing as ripping off an old itchy bandaid. It felt so good to say Sai's name aloud, and to confess his love for the man to someone. Even if Hikaru couldn't tell Sai, at least someone knew how much Hikaru loved Sai. Hikaru turned around, and walked back home with a skip in his step.

 

* * *

  

Hikaru waltzed into the ramen shop. He cracked a wide grin as he saw familiar faces wave him down from one of the booths. Isumi, Waya, and even Akira were waiting for him. Akira shouted, “Oi! Shindo! You're late! What took you so long!”

Hikara greeted his friends, and took a seat in the booth next to Akira. “Waya, Isumi, Touya! Thanks for treating me, and sorry I'm late.”

Waya laughed. “Seriously, who's late for their own birthday party?”

Hikaru scratched the back of his head, and laughed. “Ah, I had to meet up with Akari.”

Akira rolled his eyes. “Ah. Your girlfriend. That explains it.”

Waya leered at Hikaru, and grinned suggestively. “She give you a special present for the birthday boy?”

Hikaru chirped happily, “Yup! She dumped me!”

Isumi, and Akira choked on their ramen noodles, and Waya's jaw dropped. They shouted simultaneously, “What?!”

Akira grabbed Hikaru by the shoulders. “Hikaru! What happened?! Are you okay? You're smiling! Why are you smiling?!”

Hikaru was indeed smiling. “You called me Hikaru! That's the first time you called me that.”

Akira blushed and took a step back. “Oh, sorry about that...”

Hikaru waved it off. “No need to apologize. You've known me long enough, Akira.” Hikaru drew out Akira's name, testing it out on his tongue. “Besides being my eternal rival, you're my friend to boot.”

Waya was looking between the two of them, and gasped as if he made a great epiphany. “Ah, so that's why Akari dumped you, Shindo! You've kissing Touya behind her back!”

Hikaru, and Akira turned on Waya like a pair of vipers and spat out simultaneously, “No way in hell!”

Waya recoiled defensively behind Isumi, who rolled his eyes. Isumi did wonder why Akari dump Hikaru after they had known each other since childhood. “Hikaru, why did Akari break up with you?”

Waya, Isumi, and Akira stared at Hikaru. It was the burning question of the day. Hikaru slurped his ramen noodles, and simply answered. “Because she hated having to compete with Go for my heart.”

The other three seemed to relax at Hikaru's anticlimactic answer, and went back to eating their ramen. Then Hikaru dropped the proverbial bombshell. “Well, I guess the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for her was that I'm in love with another man.”

Hikaru took sadistic pleasure at seeing them all choke, and cough up their ramen. He took in their shouts, and demands for the identity of Hikaru's mystery man, all the while Hikaru remained frustratingly silent. Akira quickly made it clear that it wasn't him after Waya, and Isumi stared at him. Akira got fed up and threatened to wring Hikaru's neck. Hikaru calmly finished his ramen, and gave them a vague answer. “Maybe someday I tell you.”

Akira had a strange familiar feeling, remembering something similar when he tried to get answers about Sai's Go in Hikaru's Go a few years ago. He wondered for a moment if this is the same thing, that if it was related to the mysterious Sai. Akira shook his head, and relented. “Vague as always Hikaru. I give up, keep your secret boyfriend. I'd rather not know the details of your love life anyways.”

Waya, and Isumi reluctantly agreed. Waya especially. “I never thought I'd agree with Touya, of all people, on anything. I still can't believe you're gay, Shindo. Never pegged you as the kind of guy that likes it in the-” Isumi kicked Waya under the table. “Ow! I mean... Who cares if you like some other dude! Today's your birthday! So what do you want to do next?”

Hikaru grinned. “Play Go, of course!”

The four men left the ramen shop to play Go at Akira's usual Go salon. They ended up playing Go well into the wee hours. Isumi and Waya slipped away when Hikaru and Akira got into one of their infamous shouting matches. Hikaru would never tell admit aloud, but he was thankful for these moments with his friends that helped him forget his heartbreak. As much as Akira drove him crazy sometimes, Hikaru was grateful to him, because Hikaru couldn't think of Sai when he was yelling Akira's ear off.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who left me kudos! I am still on the fence about the epilogue. Please comment below if you want the epilogue, it will mean uping the rating on this fic.


	3. Fuji Matsuri

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuji Matsuri: Wisteria Festival, usually held in early May when the wisteria are in bloom. The most popular in Tokyo is held in the Kameido Shrine to the god Tenjin.

 

Eight Months Later, May 5th...

 

Hikaru dreamt of being by a river under an ancient wisteria with the full moon hanging coldly in an inky black sky. It was the same dream he had for months now. The wind blew by, sweeping aside the curtain of violet blossoms, and he saw a figure in a white kariginu standing in the river. Hikaru's heart pounded every time he looked upon the familiar figure of Sai. He stared up at a cold full moon with tears flowing down his face like the river he stood in. Hikaru knew this painful scene playing out before his eyes. It was the night Sai committed suicide over a millennium ago.  
Hikaru tried to run to Sai, but an invisible force always blocked his way. Hikaru yelled as loud as he could, but still Sai could never hear him. Sometimes Hikaru could see a bright crimson thread connecting their hands shining brightly in the darkness. Hikaru would tug on the string, and Sai would look around, as if looking for something he'd forgotten. The dream always ended the same way, Sai always drowned himself with Hikaru watching on helplessly.

  
Hikaru woke up from the dream in his grandfather's attic by Sai's goban. It had bloodstains on it again, but Sai never reappeared. Today was the fourth anniversary of Sai's disappearance. Since his graduation, he had been staying over with his grandfather, all in hopes of seeing Sai emerge from the bloodstained goban. He would end up falling asleep, using the Goban as a pillow. He was at a loss at what else he could do. Hikaru had first met Sai here in the attic, and emerged from this very same goban. It was only logical that Sai would come back the same way. Hikaru would wait every night if that's what it took. Any minute Sai would come out of that goban and things would go back to how they should be. Hikaru waited with determination burning in his green eyes.  
As he looked down at the bloodstained goban, his determination burned out, and left desperation in its place. Hikaru did something for the first time he can remember: he prayed. Tears fell from Hikaru's eyes, and joined the stains of Sai's sorrow. “God, please give back Sai! I need him! Please help me! Give me a sign!”

  
Hikaru waited, and waited. He slumped back over the goban with his head hitting the wooden grid. The bloodstains on the goban were as clear as day to him, but no one else. Hikaru wondered if it was all in his head, and that Sai never existed at all. After all, Hikaru could find no solid proof that Sai was ever a real person. “Maybe I am crazy.”

Then he heard a creak, and the sound of footsteps. Hikaru shot up, and shouted, “Sai!”

When Hikaru turned, his hopeful smile fell like porcelain. It was not Sai as he hoped to see, but his grandfather looming over him with a worried look on his face. “Hikaru? You've been hanging around that creepy goban for months, and I've lost count how many times I have discovered you sleeping up here, and screaming like someone was getting murdered. I'm starting to believe that my brother's old goban really is cursed.”

Hikaru panicked and hugged the bloodstained goban protectively. “You're not going to get rid of this goban! I won't let you!”

Shindo Heihachi clicked his tongue, and looked affronted. “I would never do such a thing! Not only is it worth a lot of money, but its one of the few mementos I have of my brother. I'm getting you out of this house, and out of this dusty old attic. Come on, I'm taking you to the Fuji Matsuri. Some fresh air, and the smell of the wisteria in bloom will do you some good.”

Hikaru protested. “I don't want to go look at some dumb flowers! Besides I'm supposed to meet Akira at the Go salon today.”

Heihachi didn't budge. “Then invite him to come along. I just got off the phone with my brother's widow. She called me out of the blue, and invited us to see the wisteria at our family's shrine. The shrine is a hidden gem, not a whole lot of people know about it, so we won't have all of Tokyo breathing down our necks to see the wisteria.” His grandfather grinned, and laid down the bait. “It's also said to be a Go shrine. It was used for centuries to hold Go tournaments.”

Hikaru's ears pricked at the mention of Go, and relented. “So where is this shrine?”

His grandfather grinned ear to ear. “It's right here in Tokyo! I'll go make us some bentos!”

 

* * *

 

Akira looked less than pleased. “Hikaru, where have you dragged me to? When you said Fuji Matsuri, I thought you meant the one in the Kameido Shrine.”

Hikaru shared Akira's displeasure. “My grandfather had said that this place was a hidden gem, but it looks like the “hidden” part was understated. Are you sure we're still in Tokyo, gramps?”

Heihachi grumbled back, “Yes, we're still in Tokyo! Well, technically speaking its on the line.”

Heihachi had driven his grandson, and Touya Akira to the outskirts of Tokyo, and just outside the edge of what the two young men considered civilization. Besides thick vegetation, there was a road, a few scattered houses forming a rural suburb, and a small sign that promised that the shrine was somewhere in the looming forest up the hill. Hikaru stared ahead at a torii gate standing over old stone steps. The torii gate seemed to leer at them, daring the humans to cross its threshold into the sacred grounds consumed by the dark forest ahead.

Heihachi dashed on ahead and went through the torii gate. “Come on, kids! Don't dawdle!”

Akira sighed went up the stone steps. Hikaru paused for a moment as he walked under the torii gate, feeling like electricity ran up and down his spine. The forested hill the shrine rested on was wild, and very green. It was greener, and a lot more isolated than what a couple of teenagers living in Tokyo was used to. There were patches of green reserved for parks, and a few shrines, but none had the foreboding feel of a lonely wilderness that this shrine had.

The trees, most of which Hikaru recognized as Kaya, were very old and towered over all of them. Some of the larger Kaya trees had sacred rope tied around their thick trunks. Hikaru didn't believe in spirits before he met Sai, he quickly changed his opinion on the existence of such things the night he met him. He wondered if this forest was hiding a few, and if they were as friendly as Sai. Hikaru shivered, feeling like he was being watched. Hikaru wanted break the awkward silence, and the tension emanating from Akira. “So, gramps, did you say that my great uncle was a Kannushi?”

Heihachi hummed in agreement. “Yes. My brother, and I came from a long line of priests and priestesses. This was the family shrine, and it has been in the family for generations. Since my brother died, Fujiko, his wife had been taking care of it until someone in our family steps forward, but it doesn't look like that'll happen. My brother never had children, both your father, and uncle never had any interest in the shrine or Go, and your cousin is... well he's busy with other things.”

Heihachi grumbled in disdain at the mention of Shindo Shuichi, Hikaru's cousin. Shuichi had more interest in his band, Bad Luck, and his boyfriend Yuki than running an old shrine. It was sad to say that Hikaru was the only one who still talked to him since Shuichi was disowned after dropping college to start a band, and finally openly dating a man, even if said man was a famed novelist. Hikaru had to silently thank his cousin for his part in meeting Sai. Hikaru had decided to hang out with his rockstar cousin the day before a social studies test. Not only did Hikaru come home with bleached bangs, but also an eight percent. His parents were absolutely furious, they had cut his allowance, and forced Hikaru to rummage through his grandfather's attic for money, and he came across a bloodstained goban. Needless to say, Hikaru made sure to buy all his cousin's albums as thanks for his small part in introducing him to Sai.

Hikaru wondered if this shrine was where Sai's goban sat before his grandfather stuffed it in his attic. The wind blew over Hikaru and carried the sweet spicy fragrance of wisteria, pulling Hikaru from his thoughts. He caught movement from the corner of his eye. When he turned, he saw a beautiful young woman in the forest carrying a long branch of wisteria. She had long purple hair, and wore a long sleeved kimono with a wisteria pattern on it. When she turned to glance at him, Hikaru froze when he got a good look at her face. She looked exactly like Sai. Hikaru started dashing toward her, and called out to her. “Sai! Come back!”

Hikaru was stopped when Akira put a hand on Hikaru's shoulder. Akira looked at Hikaru with wide eyes. “Who are you talking to? And you said Sai. Is it that Sai?”

Hikaru looked back at where the young woman who resembled Sai was only to discover that she was gone. He also noticed that his grandfather had wondered ahead. Hikaru was cornered. “Uh... No one. Definitely not that Sai!” Hikaru laughed nervously.

Akira crossed his arms. He wasn't going to be fooled this time. “Hikaru, I've known you for years, I'm your rival, and your friend. I know that you know who Sai was this entire time. I know you're connected to him somehow, I see him in your Go. Tell me the truth.”

He sighed, he would try to be as vague as possible, but he needed to tell Akira at least part of the truth. He deserved at least that much. “Sai was my best friend, and Go teacher. He's gone now. He's been gone for four years this day. Its a very sore subject for me, and it was worst day in my life.”

Akira was stunned. He suspected that maybe Hikaru was Sai's student, and now to hear of the passing of the mysterious Go legend was shocking. “Gone? What happened?”

Hikaru thought on what to say to Akira. He didn't want tell him that Sai was a ghost that followed him around like a puppy for two and half years. Instead Hikaru told Akira a part of the truth that he hoped would shut down the conversation. “Sai committed suicide. I was being a stupid selfish kid, and I wouldn't let him play. He never said good-bye to me. Can you not ask anymore? This a really painful subject for me.”

Akira stayed silent, but his mind buzzed with a thousand questions he wanted so badly to voice. Hikaru wanted to tell Akira the whole truth, but he knew the other man would laugh it off the idea of a being taught by a thousand year old ghost. Hikaru wouldn't have believed himself if he hadn't lived through it. Hikaru felt something in his chest lighten, telling someone of the grief he had to silently carry for many years. Tears fell down his cheeks. Akira shocked Hikaru with a rare moment of warmth, and friendship, and pulled Hikaru into an awkward hug. “I'm sorry, Hikaru. I didn't know. Let's go to the shrine, and pray to the gods for Sai.”

Hikaru sniffed, and nodded. They quickly parted from the uncomfortable hug and kept walking in awkward, but much lighter silence. It was rare moments like this that Hikaru remembered why he also considered Akira as a friend as well as his rival. “Thanks, Akira.”

The shrine finally came into sight. It was larger than what Hikaru expected, but nowhere near as grand as some of the most well known shrines in other parts of Tokyo. It looked a little abandoned. It gave Hikaru the creeps. Akira voiced Hikaru's thought. “This place is creepy.”

“You're late, Hikaru!”

An old woman's voice from behind Hikaru nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around to see an obscenely old woman wearing the red hakama, and white haori of a shrine maiden. Hikaru guessed that this old bat must be his great uncle's widow, Fujiko. She smiled in a grandmotherly sort of way. “My how you've grown! I haven't seen you since you were a infant!” Her gaze slid toward Akira. “You brought a friend! And what handsome friend, too!”

Akira balked at the flirtatious gaze the old woman had directed at him. Hikaru tried to stifle his laughter, and failed. Hikaru was beginning to like this old woman. Hikaru saw his grandfather wave at them from under a tree. “Hikaru, Touya-kun! What took you kids so long?”

The old miko who seemingly popped out of nowhere chatted with Hikaru's grandfather. They chatted like old friends, and introductions were made. Hikaru's earlier guess was right, the old woman was the shrine's miko. Fujiko gave Hikaru the same look Hikaru gave spruce gobans labeled as “geniune Kaya”. Finally the old woman smiled, and exclaimed. “You've been touched by a spirit! I can see its footprints on your soul! And quite a powerful spirit to leave footprints this deep, perhaps not a spirit, but a god?” She gave Hikaru a sly grin he had only seen in salesmen. “Perhaps the gods have marked you to be a kannushi?”

Hikaru's heart was pounding. He wondered if the old miko saw traces of Sai on him. Heihachi laughed. “You laid that same line on my son, he didn't become a kannushi, and neither will my grandson. He's a seventh dan, and might take the title of Honinbo this year!” Heihachi puffed up his chest as he bragged about his grandson.

Fujiko snorted. “All the more reason he should be this shrine's kannushi. It was a popular place to play Go, and a Shindo having the title of Honinbo will breathe new life into it.”

Akira resisted the urge to chortle, and instead hid his amusement with a polite smile. “Hikaru will have many obstacles in taking the Honinbo title, Fujiko-san. Not only is Kuwabara Honinbo a tough opponent, but he will face me as well. I will look forward to that match, and I wish him luck.”

Hikaru was never polite, nor one with tact. He growled at Akira. “I won't need luck beating you with the predictable way you play!”

Heihachi intervened before it could devolve into a grade school fight. He was no stranger to his grandson, and Akira's fights. “Come on you two, we came to see the wisteria, and play a little Go! Why don't you two settle your differences on the goban?”

Fujiko smiled and chuckled. “Come on, boys! The only sight more beautiful than yours truly is the wisteria here!”

Hikaru snorted, and quietly grumbled. “It doesn't take much to outstrip your beauty-”

Akira cut off Hikaru with a painful elbow to the gut. Unfortunately the old woman heard Hikaru and soundly whacked him on the head. “You brat! I'll have you know that I am the most beautiful flower of this shrine!”

Heihachi laughed. “She's right Hikaru, my brother was a lucky man to win the heart of the most beautiful girl in town! She must have turned down a hundred marriage offers back in the day!”

Hikaru wondered if said town was an extremely small village populated by ogres, but he wisely kept that to himself. Fujiko giggled at Heihachi's flattery. “Thank you Heihachi!” Then she glared at Hikaru. “At least someone around here appreciates my beauty! Now come on, the wisteria is this way.”

Heihachi slapped his palm against his forehead. “Oh! I forgot our bento boxes! I'll meet you three under the wisteria tree, I gotta go back to the car, and get our lunches.”

Heihachi ran back to the car, while Hikaru and Akira followed the old miko to the other side of the shrine. She led them down a stone path with stone lanterns, and a great variety of flowers lining either side of the path. The small path was surrounded by old pine trees with many wisteria vines embracing their thick trunks. The sight of pinks, blues, and violets of the wisteria merging with the green of the forest was breathtaking. The wisteria thickened, and then Hikaru heard the sound of running water from the nearby river. Then they saw the thick gnarled trunk of an ancient wisteria tree with a sacred rope tied around its trunk, it looked well over a century old. This was a sacred place. Farther downhill from the wisteria tree was a river. Hikaru gasped at the sight, not just because of its beauty, but also its familiarity. It was the same place that haunted Hikaru's dreams.

Hikaru ran to the tree in desperation and hope, looking for a figure in a black tate-eboshi and a white kariginu. His heart clenched when he could find Sai here. Though he did find something beside the wisteria. It was a small, and very old looking stone shrine, fenced off with a sacred rope, and much of it engulfed by wisteria vines. The only legible writing was the word “Fuji” with the rest overtaken by wisteria. Hikaru was stepping over the rope to look closer, but a wrinkled hand grabbed his wrist in an almost painful grip. Hikaru looked up to see Fujiko glaring at him with icy violet-blue eyes that for a splint second reminded Hikaru of Sai. Fujiko growled low at him. “Do not touch it! This is a grave. You will disturb the spirit it houses. It is restless enough as it is.”  
Hikaru's eyes widened. “Whose grave is it?”

Fujiko shrugged. “No one knows for certain. It has been here since this shrine was built in the Edo period. It was put here by your ancestor, and Honinbo Shusaku. The Go legend had some old grave from Kyoto moved here, apparently the old grave site was going to be the site of a new building. Rumor has it is that its the grave of some Fujiwara noble from the Heian period. What interest Shusaku would have in some long dead noble, I have no idea.”

Hikaru's eyes widened. His heart was pounding and his fists were shaking. Akira, and Fujiko chatted away about the shrine's Go history stemming from Honinbo Shusaku visiting this shrine, but Hikaru paid them no attention. Hikaru's sole focus was the old stone grave in front of him with most of the name hidden by vines, leaving Fuji as the single clue. Hikaru knew in his heart what the rest of the characters might be. “Fujiwara no Sai.”

Akira, and Fujiko stopped mid-sentence to regard the name Hikaru had dropped. Akira asked Hikaru, “What did you say?”

Hikaru kept staring at the grave in front of him, knowing the name most of the moss obscured. “That's who is buried here. Fujiwara no Sai. A Go master from the Heian period, and once the emperor's Go tutor, one of two. Fujiwara no Sai lost against the other Go tutor in a game to see who would get to keep their position in the palace. The other Go tutor cheated and accused Sai for what he had done. Sai lost, was branded a cheater, and committed suicide by drowning himself in a nearby river. His spirit still wanted to play Go so badly, and he still wanted to obtain the Divine Move. Sai's prayer was answered when a kind boy named Torajiro let Sai let him continue to play Go through him since Sai's ghost couldn't touch the Go stones anymore. Torajiro became a famous with Sai's skill, and changed his name to Shusaku.”

Fujiko's face held no expression. Akira looked worried for a moment then laughed a little. “Hikaru? Are you trying to scare me? Ghost stories are only effective when told at night, not when its sunny and bright like this. I admit you almost had me.”

Hikaru without warning he jumped over the sacred rope, and clawed at the vines clinging to the grave. Ripping the wisteria vines off whiles ignoring Fujiko's protests. Then Hikaru stopped and stared at the name written in stone. Hikaru was not the only one. Akira gasped at what was written there: Fujiwara-no-Sai.

* * *

 


	4. Fuji Musume

 

There on the small shrine, hidden by wisteria, and written in stone was the name Fujiwara no Sai. It was a solid, and a real epitaph to Sai. It was proof of Hikaru's strange outlandish tale of the ghost of a Heian era Go master. Akira stared at the name on the stone shrine, and his heart pounded in his chest. Akira shouted at Hikaru, and grabbed the other man by the collar. “Hikaru! How did you know it was there? Is this some kind of elaborate prank? What's going on?!”

Hikaru wouldn't look at Akira, his eyes were still fixated on the name written in stone. It was proof of Sai's existence. Sai had lived. Hikaru wept, and fat tears rolled down his cheeks. Hikaru looked at Akira, who was stunned by Hikaru's uncharacteristic sorrow. “I know, because Sai had haunted me once. For two and a half years he was by my side, invisible to everyone, but me. I never knew how much he had meant to me until he disappeared. For a long time I wondered if he only existed in my head, but he doesn't! He was real. Fujiwara no Sai lived! Now he's gone!”

Akira let go of Hikaru. He was at a loss. He couldn't believe what Hikaru had said, but it made so much sense. It explained why Hikaru played with two hands, and why that one hand Akira had first seen had disappeared. What Akira had deduced years ago before the Hokoto Cup was correct. Sai was within Hikaru, but as an unseen spirit. Akira tried to imagine what it must have been like to have such an ancient and wise spirit mentor you, and then leave you behind. “That's why you didn't play for two months. Sai's spirit moved on.”

Hikaru nodded. “Yeah, but I think I see him in dreams. I'm not sure if they are real or just my imagination. I don't know if he's okay, and in heaven or if he's in... you know... that other place. I wish I knew for certain.” Hikaru shuddered to think that Sai would be in hell.

Akira tried to comfort Hikaru, he didn't know what to say. Fujiko, who had stayed silent, and watched on with no expression spoke. “Your dreams are real, Hikaru, and he is suffering. From the moment I saw you and the red string attached to your finger I knew you were the one he condemned himself to hell for. His spirit lingers here near his bones, and in pain. Every night when the moon is visible, the ghost of a noble in a tall hat can be seen by this river, and every night he drowns himself. He is in pain because he still wishes to cling to you like this wisteria clings to these kaya trees. Because of that red string that connects you two, you alone can pull him out of his never ending cycle of suffering, and bring him back. Not just as a spirit, but in living flesh.”

Hikaru looked at the old woman in shock. “I can bring Sai back? Wait, how do you know all this?”

Fujiko smiled, and a gust of wind blew the wisteria. A curtain of violet and pink blossoms obscured her figure for a moment, and then where she stood a new person took her place. It was the same young woman with Sai's face Hikaru saw in the woods. She giggled behind her sleeve, making the resemblance between her and Sai grow. “I am Fuji-Musume, a minor goddess of love, and the spirit of this wisteria tree, though you can just call me Fujiko. Over a hundred and forty years ago my original tree in Kyoto was cut down to make room for an apartment complex. Thankfully Torajiro and the spirit that followed him was able to take one of its seedpods so that I could survive, and moved the grave of Fujiwara no Sai that was cocooned in my roots. In exchange I would be able to continue watching over the grave that I had watched over for many centuries. I waited for you to come to this shrine ever since Sai's restless spirit manifested eight months ago.”

Hikaru sat down. It was all overwhelming. His dreams were real, Sai's grave was in front of him, and it was all guarded by a goddess that lived in a wisteria tree. A goddess that knew all this for eight months and didn't tell him sooner. “Hey, why didn't you tell me sooner?! I know you have a phone, since you called my gramps today!”

Fujiko sighed. “That's because of the number one rule of all gods, no matter what religion or pantheon you hail from. We cannot directly interfere in the lives of mortals unless they ask for it. I had watched you and waited for you to ask for help. It wasn't until today that you actually prayed to 'God' to help, and lucky for you a goddess was waiting to answer.”

Hikaru staggered a little from all of it. He looked at Akira who would not stop stareing at Fujiko. It brought Hikaru relief that no, he was not crazy, and this was all happening. Sai was a real living person that haunted him for two and half blissful years, and the dream where Hikaru spoke with him was real. The game they played was real, and the brief fleeting kiss they shared was real. Hikaru felt his heart drop like a cold heavy paperweight as he remembered Sai being dragged into the river, that too was real. 'Sai loves me! And he's being punished because it... Why? What's wrong with that?'

Akira was still in shock. “You're a goddess?! I can't believe this! Wait... This Fujiwara no Sai, why watch over him for centuries?”

Hikaru also wanted to know, one thing still bothered him. “I agree with Akira for once. Why guard Sai's grave for a thousand years? And why do you look like him so much?”

Fujiko sighed sadly. “Because I am his mother.”

Hikaru was stunned. “His mother?!”

Fujiko nodded. “Yes. A thousand years ago the worst day in my life happened when I discovered that my son was to be exiled for a crime he did not commit. The Fujiwara clan that I had married into used my only child as a sacrifice for politics. The man that cheated and drove my son into exile did not live long enough to savor his ill-begotten victory, I made sure of that. When I went in search of my son, I discovered that he had committed suicide. In my unbearable grief I joined my son in death. The gods took pity on me, and I was reborn into the spirit of the wisteria tree I had buried my son's body under, and hung myself on. I had taken many husbands over the millennium, your grandfather's brother being one of them, but I never had any other children besides my precious Sai.”

Hikaru felt immense pity for this women, and shared her pain. He too loved Sai. “I miss him too. Did you say earlier that I can bring him back to life? As in he'll have a body, and everything?”

Fujiko looked up at Hikaru with hope sparkling in her eyes. “Yes, you can! The other gods were considering making him the god of go. The position has been vacant, and after that game between him and Touya Kouyo, my son was nominated for the job. However he tried to return to you by doing a god of love's job, which goes against the rules, and he was punished for it. You alone can save him, and resurrect him. Are you willing to doing anything to rescue him from the hell the other gods have put him in, and bring him back to life?”

Hikaru glanced at Sai's grave, and looked back at Fujiko with determination burning in his eyes. “What do I have to do? I don't care what it is! I'll do anything!”

Fujiko, grasped Hikaru's hands, and smiled with immense gratitude. “Thank you, Hikaru! All you have to do is marry my son!”

Hikaru took a step back. “Wait! Did you say marry? But we're both guys!”

“Yeah, Isn't that still illegal in Japan? Not to mention Hikaru is not twenty yet, he would have to get parental consent.” Akira pointed out.

Fujiko shook her head. “Oh no, the marriage between a god and mortal is quite different, and not subject to the laws of mere mortals. One of the surefire things to cement his status as a god is to marry a mortal to be that god's conduit in this world. Many powerful mediums, and priests get their spiritual powers this way, I did this with your great uncle, though this tree is my main tie with this world. You said you loved my son, and that you were willing to do anything, did you not Hikaru?”

Hikaru paused for a moment. He thought of the idea of marrying Sai, and a Sai that had a body at that. Many different images ran through Hikaru's mind, all were very appealing. Sai being able to place Go stones on the board with his own hand. Hikaru being able to show off Sai to his friends, and watching Sai cream Ogata, and Akira. Hikaru and Sai being able to hold hands, and to kiss. Hikaru's face turned beet red as his mind took a sharp turn toward the gutter. Hikaru didn't have to think it over any longer, he knew what he wanted, and that was Sai. “I'll do it!”

Fujiko beamed brightly. “Great! I'll tell Heihachi that you wish to spend the night here, and learn about this shrine's past. Tonight, my son will be coming back to the world as a god!”

Hikaru hugged the woman. “Thank you, Great Aunt Fujiko.”

Fujiko balked at being someone's great aunt, but returned the hug anyway. “Hey, I may be a thousand years old, but I'm still young! Oh! I'll need something to use as focus. Probably a goban since he's a Go master. Do you have any gobans that Sai was particularly attached to when you knew him?”

Hikaru nodded. “Yes. Torajiro's goban. It has bloodstains that only I was ever able to see, and they disappeared when he did, but now their back again.”

Fujiko clapped her hands with a sunny smile. “Perfect! I remember that thing, my late husband had it. I had tried for years to get Sai's spirit out of it, but the gods have this strict non-interference policy when it comes to the destinies of certain mortals. I remember the day my husband died and I had to let that goban go to Heihachi.” Sadness lingered in Fujiko's eyes for a brief moment. “Go get it. We'll be needing it if you want to pull him out. Oh! And don't tell Heihachi that I'm, well, not human.”

Akira stepped forward. “I want to be here as well.”

Fujiko nodded. “Very well. I'll need a witness in case things go wrong. Hikaru, there is a chance that Sai's spirit will pull you across the river that divides the living and the dead. In other words there is a chance that you will die. Are you still willing to go through with it?”

Hikaru nodded with no hesitation. “Of course! It's Sai! I love him with all my heart, and I know that he would do the same for me.”

Fujiko sighed, her expression grim. “He already has done the same for you.”

Fujiko disappeared behind her tree, and her familiar guise of the obscenely old woman in a miko's garb emerged from it. Silence fell between them, and the atmosphere became gloomy. It was interrupted by Heihachi who was out of breath, announcing that he had their bentos. Hikaru jumped up and exclaimed, “Gramps! I'm spending the night here! I need to go back your house and get your brother's old goban!”

Heihachi wasn't too happy. “What?! Are you kidding me?!”

 

* * *

 

Hikaru, and Akira sat on either side of one of Fujiko's gobans, playing a game. They were in the living room of a large traditional house that's attached to the shrine. Apparently it had been in the Shindo family for generations, and Hikaru's grandfather, and great uncle had grown up here. The sliding doors that led to a wooden porch were open, letting in fresh air, and sunlight. Hikaru was impressed by the good view it had of Tokyo. He silently wondered what the rent on this place would be, as he was still apartment hunting. If Sai was going to be living with him again, with a body this time, then he needed a bigger place then his childhood bedroom, and this place was perfect.

Sai's bloodstained goban sat not too far from them untouched, and held an a palpable aura that seemed to draw their focus. They wanted to play a game while they waited for the sun to set, and for Sai's spirit in the river to show himself. However neither of the two young men wanted to play on Sai's goban. Its confirmed past of being haunted made both of them reluctant to play on it. Hikaru couldn't help, but glance at the bloodstained goban as it was drenched in the light of the fading sun.

Hikaru finally convinced his grandfather to let him borrow his brother's old goban after he broke down crying, and lied about wanting to connect with the great uncle he never knew. Hikaru wasn't proud that he had become a skilled liar, a skill that Sai unintentionally helped cultivate. Shindo Heihachi was touched by Hikaru's performance, and happily went back to get the goban. Akira commented after Hikaru's grandfather had left that he was both impressed, and ashamed of him.

Fujiko came in. After Heihachi left, Fujiko dropped her guise as an old woman. Hikaru suspected that she was showing off. He knew that she had to hide it so she wouldn't draw unwanted attention. Hikaru had first hand experience with that, though Sai's genius was even harder to hide. In her hand she held an unlit lantern, and she wore a grim expression on her youthful face. “Are you ready Hikaru?”

Hikaru's hand trembled. Not of fear, but of anticipation of seeing Sai again. Hikaru nodded. “Yeah. I'm ready. So what do I have to do exactly? I have to marry him, right?”

Fujiko said causally, “You will have to seduce my son first.”

Hikaru, and Akira blushed. Akira protested. “Fujiko-san, what exactly are you going to make me witness?! If Hikaru is going to... do that with your son, then I refuse to watch behind the bushes like a pervert!”

Hikaru agreed. “It's not that I don't love Sai, I do, but my rival and Sai's mother are the last people I want watching me... doing it with Sai.”

Fujiko giggled behind her sleeve in the same manner that Sai did. “I meant seduce him with a game of Go. You have to persuade him to come out of the river and kiss you under my wisteria tree. When you kiss under my tree, as a god of love, I can officiate your divine marriage to him, and thus forgive him his crime of doing another god's job. It has to be a lover's kiss, trickery will not work.”

Hikaru cheered. “Yes! That'll be easy! He loves me, and we've kissed before! Even if it was in a dream...”

Fujiko shook her head. “Not so. He is trapped in a never ending cycle where he relives his last moments. That means he will have no memories of being a spirit. He will not remember Torajiro nor you. When you approach him, you will be a complete stranger from a different era. Since you and him are connected by that red string, you will be the only one he can see or hear. I know, I've tried many times to reach him.”

Hikaru looked down, and he choked out with a weak voice, “He doesn't remember me?”

Fujiko gently lifted his chin with a delicate finger. “No, but you will make him remember. You and him are link by the red string of fate, he will be naturally drawn to you. My son is like many nobles of our time; he loves novelties, and he loves Go. That is why I haven't made you change into Heian period clothing. Your strange modern mannerisms, and your aura of a skilled Go player will be irresistible to him.”

Hikaru felt some of his composure come back. He knew that if he lost his composure he would be sure to lose, Sai had taught him that. Hikaru took a deep breath and kept his mind on his greatest desire: bringing back Sai.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone who left me a kudos or a comment! I decided to post the epilogue which would up the rating. Mostly because there are lots of M rated fics with Hikaru/Akira but not one with Hikaru/Sai. Its a shame too, its one of my favorite pairings.


	5. Myoushu

 

* * *

 

The sun had set, and the only light in the sky came from the full moon, and the distant orange glow of Tokyo. The thick forest surrounding the shrine grounds swallowed up the light. The forest threatened to consume the tiny light coming from Fujiko's lantern as she led the two men down the path to the wisteria tree by the river. Hikaru was in the middle of their small procession holding the bloodstained goban, and the go bowls. He felt like a human sacrifice being led the river to appease angry gods, it was disconcerting feeling, and not a wholly inaccurate one. Hikaru knew that his life was on the line to bring back Sai, but he didn't care. He loved Sai, and he was well worth the risk if it meant bringing him back with a body.

The wisteria tree and the river came into sight. The wisteria tree seemed to glow with an unearthly radiance. The wisteria's violet blossoms parted for them as they walked through the curtain of violet light. They could see the river clearly now. Fujiko stopped, and gave the two men a warning glance. “Hikaru, you must go on alone from here. Remember that if go too far into the river you will cross into the spirit world and both of you will be lost forever. Sai will not be able to see Akira-kun or myself, only you will.”

Hikaru swallowed and started heading to the river's edge when Akira stopped him. “Hikaru. Bring him back. There are many who want a rematch with Sai, none more so than my father. So don't let him, or me down. Good luck.”

Hikaru nodded. He knew the former Mejin's loneliness of being without a rival. Touya Koyo waited for four years for a rematch with a dead man. Hikaru couldn't tell the poor man of Sai's fate, he couldn't take away that man's hope for a rematch with the only person that he could truly call his rival. It made Hikaru grateful that he had an eternal rival in Akira. It was one more reason not to fail. “Thanks, Akira.”

Hikaru walked toward the river's edge, and stopped. He looked around, and saw no sign of Sai. Disappointed he turned around to around to where Fujiko and Akira were standing. Then he saw them pointing at the river with wide eyes. Hikaru whipped around, and there in the middle of the river was Sai. His teacher, his best friend, and the one he loved. Sai was looking up at the full moon hanging coldly in the night sky with tears streaming down his face. His transparent ghostly form had an unearthly glow. The immense sorrow in the air was palpable.

Hikaru saw a thin red string connecting their hands, and he felt its desire to pull them together like a stretched out rubber band. Hikaru, remembering Fujiko's warning, resisted the urge to drop the goban and run to Sai. The distance between the river and the wisteria tree never felt so far apart. Hikaru was about to call to Sai, but the words got stuck in his throat. 'What am I going to say to him?! He doesn't know me right now! How am I going to do this?! Argh!'

Hikaru trembled, and the goban, and go bowls rattled in his arms. Then Sai turned and looked at Hikaru. Both of them froze as their eyes locked. Then Sai's gaze drifted down at the goban in Hikaru's arms, and he gasped. “A goban! Do you play Go, stranger?”

Hikaru nodded, it hurt that Sai didn't know him, but it was exhilarating to be able to play him again. “Yes! Would you like to play a game with me?”

Sai sniffled, and burst into tears. “I want to play Go more than anything, but I can't anymore!”

Hikaru wanted to run to Sai more than ever, but resisted. He was losing Sai, he had to keep trying. “Why not? Don't you want to play Go? Come on out of that river, and play a game with me!”

Sai's crying stopped, but the deep sorrow still hung over him like a dark cloud. “I was exiled from Heian-Kyo, and with my tarnished reputation no one will play Go with me. I have lost everything! It is too much for my wretched soul to bear! I can bear to live no more!”

Hikaru needed to get Sai out of that river. “Please don't kill yourself, you have plenty to live for! You see, I'm not from Heian-Kyo! I'm from a far off place called Tokyo. You can come with me, and play Go there. No one will know who you are, and you can start over. I can even help you. I making a living playing Go, I teach people how to play, and I play in tournaments against strong opponents.”

Sai looked up at Hikaru, and he cocked his head as if looking at Hikaru for the first time. Sai's sorrow seemed to slowly evaporate as it was replaced by curiosity. “What is your name?”

Hikaru smiled. “I'm Shindo Hikaru.”

Sai's mood lifted a little. “I am Fujiwara no Sai. Will you really play Go with me?”

Hikaru's smiled widened. “Yeah! I would love to! Let's play under that wisteria tree.”

Sai smiled a little, and started wading through the river. He had almost reached the shore when he tripped. Hikaru dropped the goban, and went into the river to Sai to help him up. Hikaru winced at how cold the water was, and felt a slight pull from it, as if the river was trying to drag him in. Hikaru looked down at his hands, and to his horror they were transparent. Hikaru heard Fujiko and Akira panic behind him in the distance. Hikaru grabbed Sai's hands, and flinched at how cold they were. They felt like death.

Hikaru pulled Sai up, and out of the river with all his strength. He pulled too hard, and ended up with Sai falling on top of him on the ground in a rather intimate position. Hikaru was no longer transparent, but Sai still was. His touch still felt as cold as death, and his chest didn't move. Sai wasn't breathing. Hikaru shuddered. Apparently Sai didn't even notice that he was trapped between life and death. Their eyes were locked together, and Hikaru felt warmth in Sai's gaze. Sai's face was close. “Hikaru... You seem so familiar to me. What is it about thy warm form that draws me so close like a moth to a flame?”

Hikaru saw a faint touch of rosy color appear on Sai's cheeks and he scrambled off of Hikaru. Sai noticed the fallen Goban, and some scattered Go stones, and helped Hikaru pick them up. He stuttered. “Ah, forgive me! I did not mean to be so intimate with you!”

Hikaru flushed. “Ah! It's okay, I don't mind at all! You can be as intimate as you want!”

Sai stared at Hikaru, and blinked. “Really? My, you are a bold one! Perhaps too bold...” Sai flipped open a familiar fan from his sleeve and looked at Hikaru with narrowed eyes from behind the pale yellow paper. “Could it be that a hungry crane saw a wounded carp?”

Hikaru gulped. He said the wrong thing, he had come across too strongly. Sai was suspicious. He wasn't sure what to say. Hikaru heard Fujiko's voice whisper harshly from behind the curtain of wisteria blossoms. “Hikaru! You're acting too rashly! You need to be more subtle! Remember the period he is from, respond with a witty metaphor!”

Hikaru whispered back to her, “Like what?”

Sai's eye brow furrowed, and fumed. “Are you deaf too?”

Hikaru froze, and his voice was stuck in his throat. Then Akira flew to Hikaru's rescue, and became his unlikely wingman. “Hikaru! Say, 'Perhaps, the crane saw not a wounded carp, but another graceful crane, and wished only a dance?'”

Hikaru swallowed his nerves. He looked at the fallen goban, and had an idea. Hikaru found his courage and gave Sai a confident smile. “The crane saw no wounded carp, but another graceful crane. All this crane desires is a dance.” Hikaru gestured toward the goban. “Care to dance with me?”

Sai's fan hid the smile on his lips but not the smile in his bright eyes. Then he closed the fan, and bore his smile for Hikaru to see. “Yes, I would love to dance with you.”

Sai helped Hikaru gather the go stones, to Hikaru's surprise Sai could touch the Go stones. Sai didn't seem to notice that the Go stones could be seen through his fingers. He wondered if it was because Sai was technically a god and not just a plain ghost. It didn't stop being weird to see Sai touch things, at least when Hikaru knew he was awake. Hikaru stopped staring before Sai noticed, he had limited time. Hikaru hastily picked up the goban and carried it to the wisteria tree. Its glowing blossoms brushed him as he passed through like a warm caress. Hikaru saw the blossoms seem to warmly embrace Sai as he passed through the wisteria curtain carrying the Go bowls.

When Sai stepped through the curtain, his form became more solid, and less transparent. Hikaru cheered inwardly, as he set the goban down under the wisteria tree not too far from its trunk. Sai sat down with his back toward the tree's trunk, and thankfully away from his grave with his own name etched in stone.

Hikaru sat down, readying himself for the important match ahead. From his back pocket he took out his white fan, one he had carried for every match since Sai wordlessly passed on his fan to him years ago in a dream. It was a faithful companion to all of his matches, but a poor substitute for the companion he had. It felt a little weird to have it at his side when Sai was on the other side of the goban.

Hikaru saw Fujiko, and Akira sitting down next to Hikaru unseen and unheard by Sai. It was surreal for Hikaru who had face opponents with Sai unseen by his side. Akira was one such opponent, and now Sai was his opponent, and Akira was the invisible one.

Sai looked down at the goban with great curiosity, and gingerly caressed the bloodstains. “These sorrowful stains... Is it blood? It seems so familiar.”

Hikaru leaned forward. “Do you remember anything? Do you remember anyone named Torajiro?”

Sai's eyes widened, and he gasped. “Yes! Torajiro! Such a kind, brilliant boy! We had so many games together. He always let me play them.” Sai looked up at Hikaru, with such a lost expression. “He let me play them because I could not touch the stones.” Tears fell from Sai's eyes and onto the bloodstains. “I was dead, a ghost trapped in this goban. Torajiro died young, and I went back to this goban. He died so young, as did I. I died. I'm dead right now, aren't I?”

Sai dipped his fingers into the Go bowl, and caressed the stones between his fingers. He picked up a black stone. Sai sobbed. “I can still remember the chill of the stones, but I cannot feel it. Why can I pick them up, but not feel them?” Sai looked at Hikaru, searching for answers. “Do you have the answers? Are you a god, come to me to give me guidance? Please, tell me!”

What small relief Hikaru got from some of Sai's memories returning, came even greater pressure. Hikaru hated seeing Sai like this, but just telling him would not help. He needed to remember on his own, and before the night was out. He knew it would be through Go that Sai would remember him, and Hikaru would make him remember who he is. Hikaru put his hand over Sai's, and tried to reassure him. “Hey, you can pick the stones, right? Then play Go. The answers will come to you as we play, and you will remember, I promise.”

Sai looked more lost than ever, and yet he could not ignore the siren call of the goban before him. Sai pulled his gaze from the goban and toward his opponent. “Why are you helping me? Why do you care so much?”

Hikaru smiled gently at Sai with eyes so full of love that Sai was taken aback. “Because I'm someone else that you've forgotten, someone that you loved very much.”

Sai blushed. “Then I must do my best to remember you then. Shall we choose for color?”

Hikaru nodded, and picked up white stones from his bowl, and Sai from his. There were six white stones, Sai had two black stones. Sai would be playing black. He gazed at Hikaru with determination burning in his eyes. Hikaru looked back with the same determination. From a few feet away, Fujiko caught Hikaru's attention at last, and she was panicking. “Hikaru! I forgot to tell you! You have until midnight to get him to kiss you! Other wise you'll have to start over!”

Hikaru panicked, and yelled out. “Crap!”

Sai looked up at him. “Is something wrong?”

Hikaru tried to think of something quickly, and looked around for an idea. Then he thought of something when he looked at Akira and remembered Sai's first two games with him. “Ah! The komi rule! In Tokyo, white plays with a five and a half moku advantage to compensate for black's lead. If we both end the game with fifty moku, I would win with fifty-five and a half. Are we playing with the komi rule?”

Sai crossed his arms, giving Hikaru a dubious look. “Five and a half moku? I don't know, all I know is that I never lost with black.”

Hikaru looked at Akira who tapping his watch. He decided to lay out some bait, he knew Sai could never back down from a challenge. “What's wrong? Afraid you'll lose? How about we make it interesting, then?”

Sai's eyes narrowed dangerously. He took the bait. “I won't lose! If I win not only will you tell me everything you know, but you will give me Torajiro's goban.”

Hikaru crossed his arms. It was a high stake. If Sai won, and Hikaru told him everything, he might say Hikaru was crazy and he could run off with the goban, leaving Hikaru forever. He could not try again the next night, or ever. Hikaru couldn't lose. “Alright! However, if I win you must accept my feelings for you, and agree to stay by my side forever. Oh, and I want you to seal the deal with a kiss under this wisteria as soon as I make you utter the words 'I resign.' You got it?”

Sai stumbled backwards with a slacked jaw, and wide eyes. His fan slipped from his fingers in utter shock. “Eh?! Are you serious?! What exactly was our relationship?! Don't tell me that we...” Sai trailed off awkwardly, and gestured with his hands what Sai was too polite to say aloud.

“Just play, dammit!” Hikaru yelled back.

Sai whined and flailed his arms comically. “Hikaru! You're so mean!”

Hikaru stared speechless, for a moment it was just like having his old Sai back. Sai stared back at Hikaru, blinking repeatedly. Then he gasped, and looked at Hikaru with an unreadable expression. Then a smiled bloomed on Sai's face, and looked down at the go stone in his hand with childlike delight. Then he placed a stone on upper right komoku, the sound it made as it connected with the goban seemed to resonate in the air. Sai's eyes slid close, and smiled with pleasure at being able to pick up the stones for himself, even though he could not feel them.

Hikaru blushed at the beauty Sai's face held as he reveled in the ecstasy of being able to play for himself again. Hikaru found himself deeply moved at the unsurpassed joy in his smile. Hikaru never realized until now just how beautiful Sai was. Hikaru focused back on his game and responded with lower right kosumi.

They kept on playing, finding a rhythm. Hikaru was ahead, but only slightly. He wondered if Sai was dancing circles around him and planning to cut him down in the endgame. Hikaru was determined not to lose Sai again. Hikaru knew that without Sai's memories of modern joseki he had a good chance of beating his teacher. Hikaru felt fire blaze within him, and laid out his trap. A bad move as it would appear to most, a weak stone almost begging to be taken. Hikaru looked up at Sai, and saw the older man's eye widen at the seemingly bad move. The older man stared at it hesitating, and looking back and forth between that lone weak looking stone and Hikaru. Hikaru couldn't tell what was brewing in Sai's eyes. Hikaru was starting to sweat with the mounting pressure. Would Sai take the bait?

Sai closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he looked at Hikaru with such intensity that Hikaru thought that he would burn under Sai's gaze. With an echoing clack, Sai took the bait, and swiftly enveloped Hikaru's lone white stone. Hikaru cheered inwardly. Sai practically fell into his trap, and his stones would now be consumed. Hikaru picked up his pace to lightening speed, forcing Sai to play faster. Hikaru was commanding a heavy lead now. Sai's stones on the bottom were close to death, and Hikaru was taking Sai's territory on the top. Hikaru cheered inwardly, he was going to defeat Sai!

Then Sai placed his stone on the tengan point with a thunderous clack, stunning Hikaru into dropping his go stone back into its bowl. Sai had more than seen through his trap, he had been planning for it, and used it against Hikaru. Hikaru stared at the goban, seeing the pattern Sai had been forming unnoticed. It was like a great black hand stretched out over the goban, encompassing all directions of the board, and enveloping the white. With that one move, black's territory at the top had been extended, and black at the bottom had been revived. With that one move Hikaru had lost the game. Beside him, Akira gasped at the board, “Is this the Kami no Itte?”

Hikaru gritted his teeth, and tears streamed down his face. He had lost the game. He had lost Torajiro's board, and worst of all, he had lost Sai. He felt the words, “I resign” catch in his throat, and came out as a wordless sob instead.

“I resign.”

That was it. Hikaru lost the match, and then he paused. 'Wait, that didn't come from my mouth.' Hikaru felt a cold hand force his head upward to face Sai's warm smile. “Hikaru? Didn't you hear me? I said 'I resign.' The deal was a kiss as soon as I uttered my resignation, remember?”

Hikaru was stunned. “I won? But that move... you won. Why resign?! You won!”

Sai cupped Hikaru's face gently, and his face came closer and closer to his. They were only inches apart, and Sai's voice barely above a whisper. “Hikaru, you came back for me. Thank you.”

Sai swiftly leaned in, and stole a kiss from Hikaru's slightly parted lips. All thoughts of the match fled Hikaru's mind by the feel of Sai's icy lips, so cold that they burned. Hikaru felt fire burn in his stomach as he deepened the kiss. He felt something like a ribbon constrict around his pinky. Hikaru fell through Sai's transparent form. Sai started glowing with a bright light, and started fading into bright motes of light.

A furious wind whipped around them like a storm, with wisteria petals obscuring his vision. Fujiko's voice roared joyfully above the wind, “Fuji-Musume bears witness to this divine union, and ties their fates together! Shindo Hikaru and Fujiwara no Sai!”

Hikaru closed his eyes at the bright light that flashed like the sun, and a sound like thunder cracked, and shook the earth beneath him. When Hikaru opened his eyes, Sai was gone, and all of the wisteria petals have fallen. Sai was gone again, only this time he had disappeared before Hikaru's eyes. Hikaru searched frantically for Sai. “No, no, no, no, no! Sai! Sai! Where are you! Don't go! Not again! SAI!”

Fujiko hugged Hikaru with the brightest smile on her face. “You did it, Hikaru! You brought my son back! Look!”

Fujiko dragged Hikaru toward the stone shrine that marked where she had Sai's body interred. In front of the stone shrine that bore Sai's name, there was a small wisteria vine emerging from the carpet of fallen petals. It grew and grew, slithering out the ground and swallowed part of the stone shrine. The new wisteria tree's vines found Fujiko's tree, and embraced it tightly. Then the new wisteria tree glowed, as Fujiko's tree seemed to wither a little. From the new wisteria tree, a familiar figure fell out of the thick tangled vines, and collapsed onto the ground with a groan.

Hikaru, Fujiko, and Akira crowded around the groaning figure. Hikaru kneeled on top of it, and brushed away wisteria petals to reveal Sai's smiling face. Covered in earth, and fragrant wisteria petals was Sai, alive and smiling. Hikaru immediately crushed his lips against Sai's. Hikaru reveled in how warm Sai felt, how his breath, and pulse quickened beneath him. He savored the new way he sensed Sai, the way he smelled, the way he felt, and the way Sai tasted on his tongue. Hikaru's heart soared as assured himself that felt Sai was alive. Eventually they parted for breath, deeply gasping for air.

Sai smiled, and a bubbly laugh burst from his lips. “Hikaru! I'm alive! I'm alive! Thank you! Oh, and I can feel again! I'm tingling all over! I have a body, Hikaru!”

Hikaru was bowled over by a giggling Sai, who popped out from his blanket of wisteria petals, and glomped Hikaru. Hikaru blushed as he looked at the rest of Sai, who was completely naked. No white kariginu, no light blue hakama, not even his signature hat. Sai noticed this at last, and tried to cover himself. “Ah! Hikaru, I'm naked!”

Hikaru blushed, unable to look away. His blood rushed from his head to someplace down south as he took in the sight of a naked Sai. Hikaru found that he rather liked the sight. “Yeah, you are.”

Akira coughed awkwardly, and Sai noticed for the first time that they were not alone. He jumped away from Hikaru. “Touya-kun?”

Akira waved tentatively, he was still in shock. “Hello Sai.”

Then Sai's eyes widened even further as he saw Fujiko. “Mother?! Is that you? I thought you were gone forever! I saw them cut your tree down!”

Fujiko hugged her son with tears streaming down her face. “My son, how I've missed you! Torajiro took a seed pod from my tree, and planted it next your grave when he moved it. I slept for many years until the seedpod sprouted, and bloomed. I survived thanks to him. Now look at you! You're a god now! You passed the final test! My son is the god of Go, and love!”

Sai looked at his mother questioningly. “Final test? God of Go and love?”

Fujiko nodded. “Yes, while you had passed Tenjin's thousand year test in becoming a god of Go, you had to pass mine in becoming a god of love. You chose your love of Hikaru over your love of Go. You resigned that match willingly for Hikaru, didn't you?”

Sai and Hikaru gazed at each other meaningfully, and splashes of pink stained their cheeks as they looked at one another. They edged closer to one another, eager to feel the other's touch. Fujiko coughed, and changed the subject. She had pulled out a folded white kariginu, decorated with violet wisteria flowers, from her kimono, and wrapped Sai with it with a beaming smile. “You have come back into this world much like the first time, my baby boy. I wrapped you with a robe I had made back then too.”

Sai pulled the white karinginu robe around him. He gasped when he saw her hair starting to turn grey, and wrinkles appearing on her face. “Mother? What's happening to you?”

Fujiko smiled still, as she turned old before them. “An old life to bring a new life, that is the price I had to pay, but one I gladly pay. Had I not intervened you would have waited many decades to be reborn with no memories, and Hikaru would have been a broken old man with a bitter heart. I changed that cruel destiny by shortening my own life. I gave up my immortal life as the spirit of the wisteria to you, my child. I am mortal again, whether death will come tomorrow or years from now, it will come. I am content with this, so do not cry for me child. I have lived long enough.”

Sai wrapped his arms tightly around his mother, tears of joy and sorrow streaming down his cheeks. “Thank you, mother! Thank you so much!”

Fujiko reluctantly let go of her son to face Hikaru. “I want to thank you for your sacrifice, Hikaru. Without what you gave up, Sai would not be here.”

Hikaru blinked in confusion. “What sacrifice?”

Fujiko's smile had sadness to it. “Eight months ago, you gave up Akari. She was destined to be your wife. You gave up a life with a woman for a man. Instead of taking the easy road of love, you chose the most difficult path. Sai in this world will be an older man with no past, not to mention he is your teacher. You will face adversity whereas had you stay with Akari you would have faced no hardship.”

Hikaru looked at Sai, and gave him a wide grin. Hikaru had no doubts. “The greater the adversity, the bigger the prize. Sai's worth it.”

Fujiko smiled, and agreed with Hikaru. “Indeed he is. Come, I think its time to retire for the evening. No doubt there will be a big day tomorrow, like you moving in, Hikaru.”

Hikaru's eyes widened. “Really? But the rent on this place can't be cheap!”

Fujiko laughed. “I won't charge you for rent, we're family! Besides I am no longer the god of this shrine, my son is. You are his kannushi, his main tie to this world. You belong here, and I don't think Sai will want you anywhere else but by his side.”

Sai held Hikaru's hand, and squeezed it. Hikaru squeezed back, and smiled giddily. “I don't want to be anywhere but right here with you, Sai.”

Fujiko chuckled. “Come on, I'll show you boys around.” Fujiko winked at Akira, who had shuddered a little. “Don't worry, Akira-kun, your room will be far away from where these two will be staying. Lots of walls and trees between you. I promise you won't hear a thing.”

Akira blushed several shades of red. “I thank you for that, Fujiko-san.”

The four of them walked up the path away from the wisteria, and back to the shrine. Sai had looked back for a moment at the two wisteria trees, one withered and without blossoms, and the other new, and heavy with flowers. Sai wondered for a moment if it was selfish to be happy, to be content at the cost of him getting this new life. Akari was robbed of her destiny with Hikaru, his mother's immortality was sacrificed, and Hikaru was tormented for many nights with visions of his death. If Hikaru had gone further into the river, both of them would be in the land of the dishonorable dead. Sai had almost robbed Hikaru of the bright future he once coveted.

Sai shivered, but not at the cool night breeze. Hikaru drew closer to Sai, and squeezed his hand. Sai smiled ear to ear, bursting with happiness. Sai walked hand in hand with Hikaru. There was a bright future ahead of him, and best of all Hikaru would be walking beside him on that path.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over one hundred hits! Thank you so much guys! I made this chapter extra long as thanks. Its not the end, I promise, but sadly this fic is coming to an end. The next chapter will be the epilogue and it will take me a bit longer to post since I have not finished writing it. The epilogue will also increase this fic's rating because of Sai enjoying all the things he can do with a body, and not just playing Go.


	6. Of Go And Love

 

It was at some ungodly hour when Hikaru was finally alone with Sai. Between Fujiko's tour of the shrine grounds, playing Go, and Akira finally squeezing the full truth from Hikaru, and Sai. It was no surprise that no one got much sleep. Akira demanded another game with Sai with the knowledge that it was Sai, and not Hikaru that he played that day many years ago in his father's Go salon. Akira lost, but took it rather well.

Akira promised to help them reopen the Go hall to the public, a prospect that excited Sai since it would bring many opponents for Sai to play. Fujiko had a computer that Sai could use to play NetGo once again. As much as Sai loved playing the many opponent in the “magic box” he wanted to play face to face. Hikaru knew that people still whispered about the mysterious “Saint of NetGo” to this day, and Sai's return will cause an uproar in the Go world.

With Sai's lack of a koseki registration or school records, or any paper proof of his existence, becoming a pro would be near impossible, not to mention a bad idea. With his genius, he would be put into the limelight, and inconvenient questions about his past would be brought up. Sai would have to remain in the shadows, but that didn't bother him one bit. Sai was happy enough to have a body, and be living with Hikaru. Akira said he would call his father later, and let him know that Sai is ready and waiting to play a game with him. At least as soon as they come up with a good cover story for Sai. Hikaru couldn't tell everyone that he was a Heian era Go instructor, but thankfully Hikaru had gotten good at lying. Sai lamented being the one responsible for turning Hikaru into a skilled liar.

What Hikaru wasn't good at, was knowing how to run a shrine, but thankfully Sai did. Apparently Sai already had the training to be a kannushi, even if it was a little dated. His father had other children from another wife, and since Sai was the third son he was expected to go into priesthood. Sai had learned how to play Go at a shrine to Tenjin. Being a Go prodigy changed that, when he was barely older than Hikaru is now, Sai had caught the emperor's eye, and was given the honorable position of the emperor's Go tutor.

After Fujiko called it a night, and Akira staggered into his guest bedroom, Sai and Hikaru took a much welcome bath together. One of the many things Hikaru was beginning to love about the shrine, was the property's natural hot springs. Sai savored the feeling of a good bath after a thousand years being dead. While Sai had relaxed, Hikaru felt tense by the new intimacy. Hikaru spent the whole time they were in the bath torn between looking at Sai, and looking away for modesty's sake. Sai had noticed, and decided that they should be heading to bed. Hikaru tensed up even more at the sparkle in Sai's eyes, and the blush on his cheeks. Hikaru wanted to slap himself for comparing himself to a virgin girl on her wedding night, but it was an fitting description for the situation.

Sai lead Hikaru to innermost shrine where a room reserved only for the resident god lay. When Hikaru stepped in, he felt like he had stepped into the Heian period. A large folding screen depicted scenes of Heian nobles playing Go among other more romantic activities was in one corner, and a low table with calligraphy brushes, and inks was in another corner. In the back was an alter where many old, dusty objects sat, including a new addition: a bloodstained goban. Fujiko had put the goban in a place of honor on the altar. In the middle of the room was a futon with richly embroidered blankets fit for a god of love. It was big enough for two people. Hikaru blushed as he saw a small bottle of lubricant sitting innocently on one of the pillows with a couple of mints.

Sai lit a few candles while Hikaru poked around the room more. Hikaru found his overnight bag in a wardrobe filled with traditional yukatas, and kariginu in many colors and patterns. They all looked to be about Sai's size. Fujiko told them that she had prepared this place for her son. Hikaru wondered for how many years this room waited for its intended master. It was a sobering thought, a mother mourning for her only child, and clinging to the distant hope that he would come back someday.

Hikaru was brought out of those thoughts when Sai sat down on the bed with a slight rustle. Sai blushed deeply as he smiled coyly at Hikaru. “There is only one bed. Are we going to sleep together tonight?”

Hikaru blushed. “Yeah, I guess we will.”

Hikaru settled down next to Sai, attempting to sleep. A feeling of moths flapping in his stomach kept him wide awake. Hikaru was in a new place, in a new bed, with the new feeling of a warm body next to him. Sai scooted closer to Hikaru, and enveloped his arms around him. Both of their bodies heating up upon contact. “Hikaru? We're lovers now, right? Are we going to... you know... make a beast with two backs?”

Sai finished awkwardly. Hikaru swallowed, feeling both nervous and excited. The closest he felt to this tense anticipation was before an important match. This was different. Hikaru turned over to look at his new bedmate, and old friend. Both of their faces were equally red. “Umm... I'm not quite sure how to do that. I... uh... I mean I've never done it before.”

Sai looked at him with wide eyes, clearly shocked. “Never? What about Akari? Or other girls? You're a handsome young man, Hikaru.”

Hikaru bit back. “Being a Go-Pro doesn't exactly help your sex life! Have you seen what most Go-Pros look like? Not a single one has anything close to your good looks, not even the women!”

Sai giggled. The tension between them melted, and their familiar companionship settled in. “That's quite different from my era. If a man had good skill in Go, it enabled him to gain entrance to places he normally wouldn't be allowed, a woman's bedchamber for example. Even though I know more about Go than love, even I have a little experience. Romance was a past-time more popular than all of the Four Accomplishments in the courts, after all. My beauty, and phenomenal Go skill made me rather popular with the ladies of the court.”

Hikaru felt a pinprick of jealousy. “So I'm not your first love.”

Sai wrapped his arms around Hikaru when he saw him pout. “You're the first that ever truly loved me. Sex, and love are two different things as I've painfully discovered. The fickle ladies of the court were quick to love me, and quicker to love the next pretty face. Mine was no different. Remember when I said that I caught the emperor's eye and given a position as his Go tutor?”

Hikaru dreaded where he was going with this, and reluctantly nodded. Sai continued. “It was more than just my Go skill that caught the emperor's eyes. I inherited my mother's beauty, and was a lot more than just the emperor's Go tutor. I think that's why my father's brother hated me so much that he would do something as awful as cheating just to get me out of the palace. It hurt me so much that my emperor would believe that I would cheat. As I said, Hikaru, you are the first that returned my feelings.”

Hikaru's jaw hung open. “Wait a minute! That guy who cheated was your uncle?! That's just low! And that bastard emperor! He had the most wonderful person in the world and he threw you out like month old ramen!”

Sai soothed Hikaru's anger with a quick kiss. “Hikaru. I'm fine now, better than fine in fact. I'm here with you now, and with a body. I never thought I would get to see you again, much less have a body to hold you with. To think that I would become a god of Go, and love...”

Hikaru snuggled closer to Sai, and beamed brightly at him. “Yeah, I never would have thought too! You being a god of Go I've always pictured, but a god of love too not so much. Go and love seems like an odd combination. They don't seem to go together.”

Sai giggled, and slowly slunk on top of Hikaru, his arms on either side of Hikaru's head, and his legs straddling Hikaru's hips. Sai shrugged off the top of his sleeping yukata, revealing the pale flawless skin of his bare chest. Sai's smile was full of mischief, and his eyes were gazing at him with love and something darker. “Go and love do go together. Do know what they have in common?”

Hikaru shook his head. Sai smiled down at him, and whispered in his sensually ear. “They take two to play.”

Sai pressed his lips on Hikaru's in a slow deep kiss. Hikaru was all too familiar with the sight of Sai and the sound of his voice. However there were so many new aspects of his old friend that Hikaru had yet to familiarize himself with. Sai's voice that could be so gentle and childish at times, could also be sultry. Sai who always looked a bit girly in his childish mind, looked positively gorgeous now that Hikaru was an adult. Sai's scent was an intoxicating blend of wisteria, a kaya Go board, and something completely unique to Sai. The warm heavy presence of Sai's body and the feel of soft silky skin. The taste of Sai's lips upon his, all of it Hikaru had just discovered and he wanted more. Hikaru smiled at how nostalgic it was. Sai had introduced him to the world of Go, and now Sai was introducing him to yet another. Sai would always be his teacher. “Sai. You taught me how to play Go. Are you going to teach me how to make love too?”

Sai smiled, and ran his hand down Hikaru pajamas, undoing his zipper. “Yes, I will.”

“Good!” Hikaru laughed, and eagerly stripped off his clothes. Hikaru fumbled at the knot and the vast expanse of Sai's sleeping yukata. When Hikaru started growling at Sai's clothes the older man giggled. “Having trouble, Hikaru?”

Sai helped Hikaru undo his yukata's knot, and the both of them were equally bare. Both of them blushed as they looked at each other. The dim light of the candles and the pale moonlight cast shadows on their bare skin. Sai ran his hands down Hikaru's chest, reveling in the joy of being able to touch again, and to feel another's heartbeat. Hikaru's breath hitched under Sai's caress, and his breathing raced the closer Sai's hands drifted down. Sai rained kisses on Hikaru's flesh, nibbling on his neck, and licking the hard pebbled nipples. Sai giggled at each gasp he elicited from Hikaru. “Hikaru, let me teach you something good.”

Sai knelt down between Hikaru's legs, and grasped Hikaru's member. Hikaru gasped, and moaned with pleasure. The young man's length quickly hardened in Sai's expert hands. Sai took in Hikaru's entire length in his mouth, licking up the shaft and sucking on the head. The sensations overwhelmed Hikaru. It did not take very long until Hikaru reached his climax. Hikaru threw his head back and screamed Sai's name as he came. Sai firmly kept Hikaru's jerking hips in place as he swallowed Hikaru's seed.

Hikaru lay on the bed panting for breath and the widest smile on his face. “That was amazing, Sai!”

Sai slunk tiger like on top of Hikaru, and pressed his own erection against Hikaru. Sai chuckled. “My you are so responsive! But it is not over yet. I have so much more to teach you, Hikaru.”

Hikaru's eyes widened as Sai reached for the bottle of lubricant. Hikaru had a vague idea how two men had sex, but never really knew the details. Sai noticed his tension, and gazed at the young man with the same gentle loving eyes that Hikaru was so familiar with. “Do you want to continue? I promise I know what I'm doing so it will feel very good. If this makes you uncomfortable, we can end it here tonight.”

Hikaru looked at Sai's erection, begging for release. Sai had selflessly given Hikaru so much already. Hikaru did not want to be that callous selfish brat that denied Sai even the simple pleasure of a game of Go. Hikaru sat up and grabbed Sai, passionately kissing the man, causing him to drop the bottle. Hikaru kissed Sai in the same places the man had kissed him, his neck, his collar, his nipples, and edging closer to the other man's erection. Hikaru reveled in the sounds he elicited from Sai. Even though Hikaru was inexperienced, his eagerness more than made up for it. Hikaru always was a fast and determined learner. Hikaru took Sai's hard length into his mouth without any hesitation enjoying the way Sai moaned and squirmed beneath him. “Hikaru! I'm coming!”

Hikaru didn't get much warning before Sai's hot seed spurted into his mouth, almost making him gag. It wasn't as nasty tasting as he heard it would be, but it wasn't miso ramen either. Sai embraced Hikaru. “Thank you so much Hikaru! It has been so long since I've last experienced such pleasure!”

Hikaru laughed. “Yeah, I bet! At thousand years at least!” Hikaru pushed Sai away so that he could look him in the eye. “Listen, Sai, I wanna say that I'm not going to be that selfish brat anymore. For a long time I had thought it was my selfishness that drove you away. I want to make you feel good. So what I'm trying to say is...” Hikaru trailed off awkwardly and instead handed the fallen bottle of lubricant to Sai to say what he couldn't with words.

Sai's eyes widened as Hikaru dropped the bottle in his hands. “Really? Are you sure you're up for it? We don't have to tonight if you don't want to...”

Hikaru was beginning to get a little frustrated. “Just do it already! You don't stop a game of Go in the middle do you? You finish it!”

Sai's eyes trailed down, both of their bodies still wanted more. Sai smiled, and with a slight shove, he pushed Hikaru backwards on his back. “Okay Hikaru, shall we go into yose?”

Sai opened the bottle to put some of its slick contents on his hands. “Okay Hikaru, I need you spread your legs, and try to relax. I will prepare you first, that is the responsibility of the one who will be the seme.”

Hikaru spread his legs, and waited with much anticipation. Hikaru took a sharp intake of breath as he felt Sai's dexterous fingers probe his entrance. Hikaru tensed up at the strange new sensation. Sai's gentle voice assured him. “Its okay Hikaru, just relax. Can you feel the way I'm holding my fingers? Its just like holding a Go stone.”

Hikaru relaxed, and felt Sai's fingers stretch him. Then his fingers found a spot within him that made him see stars. Sai massaged that spot that brought wave after wave of intense pleasure. He was beginning to see more similarities between Go and love. Tonight was much like shido-go with his teacher gently leading around the goban, and encouraging him to make the right moves to claim more territory. Though instead of a goban they played their game on, it was a bed, and the territory to be claimed was their bodies. Now their love making was reaching its endgame. He will never see Go the same way again.

Sai took out his fingers. They had reached yose. Hikaru saw Sai put more of the bottle's slick contents on his own hard length. Then Sai leaned in closer to Hikaru, and guided his erection to Hikaru's entrance. Sai gazed at him with the same kind eyes so full of love that Hikaru had missed so much. “I love you, Hikaru. Thank you for coming back for me.”

Hikaru felt his eyes sting and his vision warble with tears. “I love you too, Sai. Thank you for choosing to be with a punk brat like me.”

Sai claimed Hikaru's lips in passionate kiss. Then he slowly sunk his length into Hikaru, inch by agonizing inch. Hikaru cried out as he was stretched and filled. Sai showered his neck with kisses and whispered sweet assurances in his ear. Finally Sai was completely inside of Hikaru, burying his length up to the hilt inside of Hikaru. Both of them lay still, panting for breath. Sai waited for Hikaru to adjust to being filled by him. “Hikaru, let me know when you are ready, but please do not make wait forever. You have no idea how good you feel.”

Hikaru felt Sai filling him completely. It felt so overwhelming to Hikaru to feel how physically close they were. To feel an utter oneness was an incredible pleasure in of itself. Hikaru nodded, and Sai started moving in a slow gentle rhythm. Hikaru was left gasping for breath every time Sai hit that spot inside of him. Encouraged by Hikaru's cries of pleasure, Sai picked up his rhythm, and thrust into Hikaru faster and faster. Sai was finding it hard to be gentle being so close to his peak. Finally Hikaru clenched around him and screamed Sai's name as he came in hot spurts over both of their stomachs. After a few fast hard thrusts Sai finally let go, filling Hikaru with his seed. Sai screamed Hikaru's name, his vision filled with stars.

After he finished, Sai slumped over in exhaustion and satifaction. Then he reluctantly pulled out of Hikaru, and collapsed next him, wincing at the loss of the physical connection. Sai pulled Hikaru closer to him, and grabbed ahold of Hikaru's hand, weaving their fingers together. They looked at each other. Both of them saw in each other's eyes the same love and the overwhelming happiness of joining. Hikaru giggled. “You were right Sai. Go and love have a lot in common, but I think there's one major difference.”

Sai looked at Hikaru with much curiosity. “What is it?”

Hikaru smirked. “In love you never feel bad for coming in second!”

Sai gasped at the innuendo, looking completely scandalized. Sai playfully hit Hikaru lightly on the head, and reprimanded him. “Hikaru! Don't be so lewd!”

Hikaru laughed. “I'm in bed naked together with you after having wild, passionate sex! You were just as guilty of being lewd!”

Sai groaned in shame, and tried to hide himself under the covers. Hikaru laughed even harder. “Look at us Sai! Some things never change! You being so composed and polite, and me being a punk brat!”

Sai came out of his hiding place, and smiled at Hikaru. “I wouldn't want it any other way.”

Then a laugh burbled out of Sai's lips, and they started laughing together. Sai nuzzled closer to Hikaru, draping an arm around him as lay his head next to Hikaru's. Sleep was starting to claim them. After all of their ordeals and finally joining together, they could not fight sleep anymore. As they drifted off, Hikaru thanked the gods that for giving Sai back, and for that fateful meeting under the wisteria.

 

-fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's the end of Meeting Under The Wisteria. I hope you folks enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun writing it, and really sastifiying to contribute to a pairing that does not get enough love. Thank you all so much for all the kudos, the comments, and most of all for reading. Now on to the next story!


End file.
